1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microscope used in observing an image of a specimen.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that doctors often diagnose diseases on the basis of image data on specimens (samples such as cells or tissues of the body) that is acquired through digital microscopes. Doctors are required to make diagnoses correctly and quickly. Hence, image data to be acquired through digital microscopes needs to be easy to make diagnoses. Furthermore, such image data needs to be quickly acquirable.
When the angle of view of a microscope defined by an objective lens is increased, the area of an image to be acquired at a time increases. This enables quick acquisition of image data but makes it difficult to acquire an image that is in focus at every point of the area defined by that angle of view. This is because each specimen is not flat and has undulations. Hence, the focal plane (a plane at the focal point) of the objective lens does not necessarily conform to the surface of the specimen to be observed.
Accordingly, a method may be employed in which a stage on which a specimen is to be placed is moved on the basis of measured undulations of the specimen and such that the focal plane of the objective lens conforms to the surface of the specimen, whereby at least one of the position and the inclination of the specimen with respect to the objective lens is changed.
Instead of a stage on which a specimen is to be placed, a parallel link mechanism is disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-131605 in which an optical element, which is an object to be moved, is movable with respect to six axes.
The stage of a digital microscope is provided in a very narrow space between an illumination system that illuminates a specimen and an objective lens provided across the specimen from the illumination system. Therefore, even if the parallel link mechanism disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-131605 is applied to the stage of a digital microscope, it is difficult to move the stage through a desired stroke in such a narrow space.